HR tech providers want to improve the employee experience and more surveys find poor digital HR a pain point in the remote work experience. This and more updates from HR in the second half of Nov. 2020.
More companies are partnering to enhance the candidate and the employee experience. Others are launching products to simplify employees’ self-service potential. HR veterans are making big moves and joining companies’ board of directors to plan their vision. Studies find that employees are dissatisfied with the digital HR experience they are having. A trend worth noting: after announcing major D&I initiatives this year, very few companies have released their inclusion data this year. Here’s everything you should know about the HR and HR tech world from November 2020.
Table of Contents
- EverythingBenefits launches free benefits self-service solution for SMEs
- Beezy’s latest update targets the unified digital workplace employee experience
- Modern Hire launches Text-Based Assessments to predict turnover in hiring process
- Deel widens talent pool for employers internationally by automating employer of record services
- ServiceNow and Workplace from Facebook partner to improve remote employee experience
- OutMatch Acquires Checkster and Bolsters End-to-End Talent Decision Platform
- ABBYY recruits former Google, Expedia HR Leader Weronika Niemczyk as chief people officer
- WorkForce Software adds HR veteran and Workfront SVP of people and culture Laura Butler to Board of Directors
- Procore appoints former ServiceNow CHRO Pat Wadors as its first chief people officer
- McDonald’s hires Tiffany Boyd as U.S. chief people officer as it intends to “make bold moves†for its people
- U.K. employees need more digital solutions for HR management amid the pandemic
- Indeed research shows tech workers willing to take pay cut to work remotely
- Staples finds a 6% increase in average working hours per day between 2019 and 2020
- UKG Report finds improvement in digital accessibility in the workplace since COVID-19
- Not enough companies are walking the talk in terms of diversity and inclusion
HR Tech Products Launch
EverythingBenefits launches free benefits self-service solution for SMEs
EverythingBenefits, the benefits automation technology provider, launched EverythingBenefits Butterfly LITEOpens a new window , a free solution for businesses with 50–150 employees. The solution (available starting Jan. 4, 2021) is a self-service benefits enrollment solution that will help streamline the employee experience. With features such as an interactive dashboard, real-time reporting, and a mobile app, companies can use the solution as a standalone solution or in combination with other products.
Beezy’s latest update targets the unified digital workplace employee experience
With the launch of Beezy 4.0Opens a new window , Beezy, a digital workplace designed to streamline the employee experience on Office 365, will aim to simplify employee collaboration and communication further. Its latest launch will help organizations offer employees worldwide a centralized location to collaborate and a “hero display†that places important content for employees at the front and center. Additionally, companies can create custom widgets and video stories. Finally, with a Microsoft Teams integration, the app can easily be deployed on this collaborative platform.
Modern Hire launches Text-Based Assessments to predict turnover in hiring process
Modern Hire, the enterprise hiring platform, launched text-based assessmentsOpens a new window to predict potential turnover right in the hiring process. Powered by Modern Hire’s CognitIOn, a short assessment will be administered on any device in the platform’s “on-demand text†stage of hiring. This assessment is designed to improve the candidate experience as well as reduce administrative burdens on recruiters by giving them science-backed predictions of potential turnover.
Deel widens talent pool for employers internationally by automating employer of record services
Deel, a payroll and compliance startup, has now automated the international employee hiring processOpens a new window so that employers can use their Deel account to hire employees in over 150 countries. Deel becomes the employer of record, as employees are on Deel’s payroll as it hires on behalf of companies who want to onboard international employees. With features such as customized hiring and termination management for employees and centralized, flexible payroll (including through cryptocurrency), and cross-border HR benefits, Deel aims to help employers harness talent from the world over.
HR Tech Partnerships
ServiceNow and Workplace from Facebook partner to improve remote employee experience
ServiceNow and Workplace from Facebook have launched new integrationsOpens a new window to improve the growing distributed workforce’s employee experience. The current ServiceNow Virtual Agent will receive some enhancements that will allow employees to use the platform through Workplace. They can use the agent to request support and track their requests. ServiceNow employee campaigns will also be integrated in Workplace through which companies can distribute important content to their employees. The Workplace From Facebook Integration Spoke will allow customers to create integrations for Workplace to enhance employee experience. This partnership will leverage the vast customer base of both ServiceNow and Workplace and help break silos between HR tech apps for organizations.
OutMatch Acquires Checkster and Bolsters End-to-End Talent Decision Platform
Outmatch, the provider of hiring decision technologies, acquired ChecksterOpens a new window , a global provider of pre- and post-hire talent insights solutions. Users will now be able to leverage Checkster’s automated reference screening abilities and pre- and post-hire talent analytics in OutMatch’s talent decision platform. This addresses a critical but time-consuming process in the recruitment process – candidate reference checking. This combination is expected to become standard as employers head into the future of work and remote work becomes the norm.
HR Technology News: iCIMS Partners With Visier, Adds To Its Suite of Robust Talent Acquisition Offerings
HR Hires and Appointments
ABBYY recruits former Google, Expedia HR Leader Weronika Niemczyk as chief people officer
ABBYY, a digital intelligence company, has appointed Weronika NiemczykOpens a new window as its first chief people officer (CPO). Niemczyk will lead the employee experience function for ABBYY’s more than 1,200 global team members distributed across 14 countries and five continents. She previously led human resources (HR) at global companies Expedia, Google, and Ascential and has a passion for talent development, culture, diversity, and inclusion.
WorkForce Software adds HR veteran and Workfront SVP of people and culture Laura Butler to Board of Directors
Laura Butler, senior vice president of people and culture at HR tech provider Workfront, has been addedOpens a new window to WorkForce Software’s board of directors. In this position, Butler will help WorkForce Software accelerate its growth in the workforce management global enterprise market. Her extensive leadership experience will be critical as part of the Board of Directors for WorkForce Software.
Procore appoints former ServiceNow CHRO Pat Wadors as its first chief people officer
Procore Technologies Inc., a construction management software provider, has appointed former ServiceNow CHRO Pat WadorsOpens a new window as the company’s first chief people officer. In this role, Wadors will oversee the people team and the talent acquisition team and play a critical role in Procore’s focus on employee experience. Wadors served as ServiceNow’s CHRO form 2017 to 2020, before which she was SVP, global talent organization at LinkedIn.
McDonald’s hires Tiffany Boyd as U.S. chief people officer as it intends to “make bold moves†for its people
In the latest of its hires, McDonald’s announced the appointment of Tiffany BoydOpens a new window , a former General Mills executive for 23 years, as its U.S. chief people officer. In October, the company also hired a new diversity chief, chief learning and development officer, and an executive to lead its global impact team. The company states that it intends to make bold moves for its people, and Boyd’s appointment at this time is critical as it battles discrimination lawsuits and labor-led actions.
HR Surveys
U.K. employees need more digital solutions for HR management amid the pandemic
A survey conducted by HR and payroll services provider SD Worx found that the majority of U.K. employees would prefer to have more digital optionsOpens a new window when handling HR-related issues. 45.5% of employees in the U.K. are only moderately satisfied with their digital HR tools. Only a quarter of employees can find answers to HR-related questions through these tools. Around a third still have to call the HR department to get their questions answered.
However, 62.3% of employers admit to short-term plans to improve their HR service delivery to staff, with 61.7% saying they will focus on improving employee experience.
Indeed research shows tech workers willing to take pay cut to work remotely
Indeed, one of the world’s top employment websites, surveyed more than 600 U.S. employeesOpens a new window from the technology sector who worked in the office before COVID-19 and have switched to full-time remote work. While 96% of all technology workers believe working from home is here to stay, 6 out of 10 would willingly take a pay cut to continue working from home permanently. 86% say that the increased flexibility and lack of commute has convinced them that working from home is the way to go. 83% say they can better meet their home and family responsibilities, suggesting that remote work provides a greater work-life balance.
HR Technology News: Remote Workers May Get Salary Cuts: What Do They Think About This?
Staples finds a 6% increase in average working hours per day between 2019 and 2020
Staples surveyed 1,000 peopleOpens a new window to analyze how U.S. residents are spending their time in 2020 in comparison to 2019. The survey found an average 6% increase in working hours per day between 2019 and 2020 – 8.61 hours per day in 2020 versus 8.11 hours per day in 2019. An additional 6% means employees are working an extra half hour per day and an extra two and a half hours per week on average.
Respondents also rated their personal level of work-life balance on a scale of 1 to 10 in both surveys, where 1 indicated terrible and 10 indicated excellent. On average, respondents gave their work-life balance a score of 5.84 in 2020 – a 14% drop in balance from 2019’s average score of 6.79.
UKG Report finds improvement in digital accessibility in the workplace since COVID-19
In collaboration with disability inclusion non-profit Disability: IN, UKG surveyed 1,000Opens a new window managers at U.S. companies with more than 150 employees and found that a large majority of managers (85%) think their company’s efforts to address disability inclusion are “above average.â€
However, nearly a quarter (23%) of managers surveyed said they haven’t had – or weren’t sure if they had – the proper training to respond or provide insight on potential accommodations when direct reports disclosed details about their disability.
On the bright side, more than half of managers (51%) said COVID-19’s impact on their workforce had accelerated their company’s ability to accommodate employees with disabilities. 74% of managers said they had received formal training on making remote meetings more accessible.
Not enough companies are walking the talk in terms of diversity and inclusion
As You Sow released two scorecards on the 250 largest companies in the S&P on their racial justice policies/practices and workplace equity disclosures. The data includes 31 key performance indicators on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) disclosure and 18 key performance indicators on racial justice.
Here’s what they found:
- Alphabet and BlackRock are the only companies among the S&P250 that scored in the top 10 for DEI disclosure and racial justice.
- Intel, Autodesk, Apple, and Salesforce are in the top 10 for DEI disclosure; Microsoft is in the top 10 for racial justice.
- Walmart is in the top 10, while SYSCO, Hormel, and Colgate-Palmolive all scored zero in the bottom 10 for DEI disclosure.
- ExxonMobil is a standout as the only energy company in the bottom 10 on both scorecards.
- Only 16 companies have released any inclusion data on Black employees. Compared with the 189 companies that have made racial justice statements, this is a paltry 8.5%.